Control & Flexibility
A TRUE LOVE MATCH
Creating content at scale can feel like an endless game of tug-of-war.
Micromanagement and too much red tape leave creators feeling stifled. But if you throw out the rulebook entirely? Chaos reigns.
With teams under pressure to create, it’s tempting to give up and accept the tradeoff. But swinging too far in either direction comes with major consequences.
“Effective content operations need both flexibility and control.”
Maximum freedom, zero governance
Imagine a world where everyone creates whatever they want. No rules, no requirements, no approvals. Regional teams experiment with different brand identities “to see what sticks.” Compliance becomes a nice-to-have rather than a requirement.
At first, it feels liberating. Teams move fast. Content gets published quickly. But soon, the cracks start to show:
- Your brand becomes unrecognizable, with teams creating off-the-cuff materials with no governance.
- Content is full of errors. Without approval processes in place, inaccurate information or outdated content circulates unchecked.
- Compliance risks pile up. That content you published without running it past legal? That’s turned into a potential lawsuit. Oops.
Without structures to guide creation, too much freedom results in inefficiency, confusion, and fragmented brand identity.
Maximum governance, zero freedom
Now, let’s flip the script. Everything from a short email to a blog post must be thoroughly vetted before seeing the light of day. Brand guidelines are enforced with an iron fist, and compliance teams spend most of their time policing content.
The upside? You’re producing top-notch content and your brand is looking more polished than ever.
The downside?
- Production slows down to a halt. With a long list of approvals to tick off, quick experimentation becomes a fantasy.
- Bottlenecks form. It feels like everyone’s always waiting for someone — content gets outdated before it even gets approved.
- Workarounds become the norm. The freedom may be gone, but the pressure to produce certainly isn’t. Teams start finding ways to cheat the system.
Over time, this rigidity becomes more of a hindrance than a help. With no room to experiment, teams simply stop innovating.
Controlled flexibility: The best of both worlds
Effective content operations need both flexibility and control. The key here is to establish structures that ensure consistency while still leaving room for agility and innovation.
In practice, this looks like:
- Establishing a clear governance framework
- Providing teams with tools to keep them on-brand and compliant
- Getting the right people involved
- Staying adaptable and iterating
Between control and flexibility, choose both
Control and flexibility don’t have to be opposing forces. If you ask us, the strongest content organizations are the ones who choose both.
